You can bond with a narcissist and come out better off whereas you won’t with a psychopath. Narcissists have a conscience; psychopaths are defined as having no guilt.
Is meditation even good for you?
Inside the mind of psychopaths
An illuminating, if not slightly chilling, exploration of what makes a psychopath
The title, supposedly, refers to a Chinese saying that a “fish stinks from the head,” implying that this movie might be an exploration of how the dysfunction of our hierarchical society originates from those at the top of the pyramid.
I Am Fishead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychopaths?
What is good for you as a person is often bad for you as a writer. People will tell you that this not true, and some of the people who will tell you that are also writers, but they are bad writers, at least when they try to convince you, and themselves, that the most important thing for a fiction writer to have is compassion. Flannery O’Connor suggested in her essay “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction” (1960) that compassion was perhaps the most overrated of all the fiction writer’s supposed imperatives: “It’s considered an absolute necessity these days for writers to have compassion. Compassion is a word that sounds good in anybody’s mouth and which no book jacket can do without. It is a quality which no one can put his finger on in any exactly critical sense, so it is always safe for anybody to use.” In other words, O’Connor suggests that compassion—as shown by a writer by way of her fiction—is important only to nitwits and cowards.
Listen Morty, I hate to break it to you, but what people calls "love" is just a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed. It hits hard, Morty, then it slowly fades, leaving you stranded in a failing marriage. I did it. Your parents are gonna do it. Break the cycle, Morty. Rise above. Focus on science.
A Classic Tales of the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Psychopaths at work: how to protect yourself from the hidden cost
From psychological thrillers to true crime stories, people who depart from social norms can be deeply fascinating. Psychopaths most of all.
Working with or for a psychopath, however, is less fun.
The research generally agrees about 1 per cent of the population is psychopathic. This means they fail to develop the normal range of emotions, lack empathy for others and are more disposed to antisocial and uninhibited behaviour.
Among prisoners, the percentage with psychopathic traits has been estimated at 15 per cent to 20 per cent. But psychopaths are also disproportionately represented in corporate culture. Among the higher echelons of large organisations, the psychopathy rate is an estimated 3.5 per cent. Some estimates for chief executives go way higher.
Only in recent decades has the research on psychopathy started reflecting the enormity of the social and economic cost of non-criminal corporate psychopaths.
My research (with Clive Boddy and Brendon Murphy) suggests corporate psychopaths cost the economy billions of dollars not only through fraud and other crimes but through the personal and organisational damage they leave behind as they climb the corporate ladder.
Bullies, thieves and chiefs: the hidden cost of psychopaths at work
Benedict Sheehy, University of Canberra
From psychological thrillers to true crime stories, people who depart from social norms can be deeply fascinating. Psychopaths most of all.
Working with or for a psychopath, however, is less fun.
The research generally agrees about 1% of the population is psychopathic. This means they fail to develop the normal range of emotions, lack empathy for others and are more disposed to antisocial and uninhibited behaviour.
Among prisoners, the percentage with psychopathic traits has been estimated at 15% to 20%. But psychopaths are also disproportionately represented in corporate culture. Among the higher echelons of large organisations, the psychopathy rate is an estimated 3.5%. Some estimates for chief executives go way higher.
The presence of psychopathy in the workplace—although psychopaths typically represent a relatively small percentage of workplace staff—can do enormous damage when in senior management roles.[1]Psychopaths are usually most common at higher levels of corporate organizations and their actions often cause a ripple effect throughout an organization, setting the tone for an entire corporate culture. Examples of detrimental effects are increased bullying, conflict, stress, staff turnover and absenteeism; reduction in productivity and in social responsibility.[2] Ethical standards of entire organisations can be badly damaged if a corporate psychopath is in charge.[3] A 2017 UK study found that companies with leaders who show "psychopathic characteristics" destroy shareholder value, tending to have poor future returns on equity.[4]
Academics refer to psychopaths in the workplace individually variously as workplace psychopaths, executive psychopaths, corporate psychopaths, business psychopaths, successful psychopaths, office psychopaths, white-collar psychopaths, industrial psychopaths, organizational psychopaths or occupational psychopaths.[5] Criminal psychologist Robert D. Hare coined the term "Snakes in Suits" as a synonym for workplace psychopaths.[6]
Your boss is the king. He dictatorially proclaims where you must sit, when you may take your lunch, how you speak, when you must arrive at the office and what time you can leave work at night. He controls every single aspect of your job and work-life. You are subjected to endless degradation, constantly being criticized and corrected.
What’s funny—as if anything can be humorous in this hellhole—is that after the 10th time, he re-edits your work, you hand it back. It’s all his work product at this point in time, but he tells you that you did a poor job and must redo it once more.
9 Things to Do If Your Boss Is a Psychopath
9 Things to Do If Your Boss Is a Psychopath
Updated: Dec. 22, 2020There's no healing a psychopath, so what happens when your paycheck depends on one?
Figure out if it’s true psychopathy
People tend to throw around the word “psycho” pretty casually, but a clinically diagnosed psychopath is a very serious animal. There’s a big (and rather scary) difference between someone who is kind of mean or a little off and someone who is void of feeling and only wants you to suffer. According to Judy Rosenberg, PhD, an LA-based psychologist and author whose valued professional input has appeared on major outlets like CBS News and CNN, a psychopath is someone who can severely threaten your well-being, physically and/or emotionally. (They’re not all serial killers, contrary to what Hollywood would have you think. And they’re not easy to spot, either—many of them are normal or even quite charming.) “There’s a quality of the worse you feel, the better he feels,” she says. “Somebody who’s a true psychopath has absolutely no empathy at all.” Some marked features of a true psychopath, as she explains it, are severe paranoia, a high degree of narcissism, intense projection of rage or insecurity on others, and a general penchant for sadism. To put it bluntly, Dr. Rosenberg says, “They don’t mind cutting your jugular.” (Here’s how to tell the difference between a sociopath vs. narcissist.)
Analyze the workplace dynamic
There are plenty of bad bosses out there in the workforce who make their employees unhappy or uncomfortable, but psychopathic bosses go well beyond that. If you think your boss is psychopath, don’t just observe him or her, but observe how she affects your coworkers and the general workplace environment as well. “Corporations can become like dysfunctional families,” Dr. Rosenberg says. A workplace that functions underneath the command of a psychopath will be very hostile and will seem very personal. Psychopathic bosses can turn employees against each other, allowing the abuse to pile up. This is because they don’t care about their employees as fellow humans. “You become a function, not a person,” Dr. Rosenberg reveals. “You’re just a thing to be used and if you have needs that’s not OK because they’re not hisneeds.” If you’re feeling used and abused by your boss, there’s an excellent chance that your coworkers are feeling the same way. In these circumstances, some individuals will bond together while others will become nasty or conniving in order to trump their coworkers in an effort to win favor with the big man. Now you’ve got to watch your back from all angles. Find out the signs your boss actually hates you—and what to do about it.
Accept that your boss is not going to change
Psychopaths don’t stop being psychopaths. As Dr. Rosenberg said earlier, they are fundamentally devoid of empathy, and nothing is going to change that. You may keep trying to please your boss by performing well, but no matter what he will remain the same person. The question then becomes, can you stand it or not? The eventual outcome, Dr. Rosenberg says, is completely empty and destructive. “They keep using people up until nobody wants to be around them,” she explains. Their psychopathic behavior may even eventually lead to the destruction of the company itself. If your boss is a psychopath, he/she will push you to your absolute limit until you break down mentally. So if your boss isn’t going to change, something else has to, and inevitably, you’re the one who is going to have to make that change. Here are some more signs you have a terrible boss.
Recognize that situation won’t ever be positive
Though you may think that your horrible job is just a challenge for you to surmount, there is no such thing as winning in this scenario. No matter how much you try to ingratiate yourself to bosses like these, there will never be a lasting positive outcome. “If you please them,” Dr. Rosenberg says, “you’re good for a moment. If you can’t, you’re not good and if they can replace you they will because you’re just an object.” When it comes to psychopaths, you are utterly disposable. They will treat you and your coworkers like pigs to a slaughter; they don’t anticipate you to last, but while you do they will squeeze every bit of usefulness out of you that they can. Psychopathic bosses will make incredible demands of you and berate you whether you meet them or not. They will emotionally and physically exhaust you. You have to realize that either you will continue to suffer or you will be fired/quit. These are 14 secret signs you’re about to get fired.
Check your mental health
Once you accept this unfortunate truth for what it is, you have to decide how you’re going to proceed from there. You’ve evaluated your boss and your work environment and have come up with nothing pleasant, and now it’s time for you to evaluate yourself. You’re down to two options: stay or leave. In Dr. Rosenberg’s opinion, if you stay, it means that there’s something not quite right with you either. “Codependent people would love this dynamic, for example, because they’re trying to get the holy grail; the star on the report card. [They think], ‘If I please this person then I’ll finally be loved.'” If you keep trying to work hard for this person and make this person happy, it’s reflective of your own psychological need to please and to seek approval. These are the signs your difficult boss is a micromanager.
Don’t make excuses
If you really need this job, you might start to convince yourself that the situation at work isn’t actually as bad as you think it is. Everybody has a tough boss, right? Well, yes and no. There’s a difference between a tough boss and a psychopathic one. While your peers may have a tough boss and be able to get by, that doesn’t mean that your situation is the same. Dr. Rosenberg explains, “A tough boss is just somebody who blows up at you, but they don’t cross those lines. Tough is playing fair. But playing threatening, playing mean—the four D’s: demean, devalue, destroy, discard—that’s just another level.” If your boss is consistently demeaning you, devaluing you, and destroying you, that’s not normal. Don’t pass it off as just part of what it takes to be a boss. See it for what it is. Don’t miss these signs you can’t trust your boss.
Solidify your boundaries
You may be lucky enough to be able to put some distance between you and your psychopathic boss if you work in a large company. But if you constantly have direct contact with your boss, it’s pretty much impossible to survive and thrive. Being exposed to a psychopath for a prolonged period of time can disorient you and confuse your values and your sense of self-worth. “It’s like a relationship,” Dr. Rosenberg remarks. “If you’re a healthy person and somebody tells you to shut up or beats you or ignores you, a healthy person will just say, ‘No thank you, bye, nice knowing you.’ An unhealthy person will stay because their low self-esteem says, ‘I’m not worth anything. I’m not good enough.’ So they’ll stay on lack of belief that they deserve any better, or they’ll stay because secretly, unconsciously…[they want to] become victorious over these patterns and they won’t.” Keep your wits about you. If your boss is devaluing you, don’t give in and devalue yourself, too.
Start looking for another job
“If it’s that bad, don’t [stay], because the poison is too thick,” Dr. Rosenberg advises. If everything described up until now matches your boss and your workplace, then it’s time to seek employment elsewhere. Even if you’ve been there for less than a year, don’t worry how leaving might look on your resume: You have to realize that finding a new, better job is worth far more. This is a special situation that you just need to get out of. If you can stand it, keep working this job until you can secure another one. And this time, when you interview with a prospective future boss, be sure to look out for the classic signs of a psychopath so you don’t end up recreating the same situation for yourself.
Quit
If you have been pushed to your absolute breaking point and you feel that your mental health is plummeting, you might need to quit regardless of whether you’ve found another job yet. “I do get that we need money and we need a job,” Dr. Rosenberg says, “but it comes to a point where your mental health is worth more than that job. At that point, you need to leave.” That’s not to say that you should storm out and quit on a whim. Take your time to properly think about it before you make your move. But you know yourself better than anyone else. If you feel that you can’t survive in this work environment then you need to get out and preserve your sanity. If you’re worried about finances being an issue, take a part-time job until you can find something that you would like to do permanently. You have options. Don’t let your psychopath boss make you feel like you don’t! Just make sure you don’t work for any of these 25 bosses no one ever wants to work for.
To conclude, whilst research into workplace psychopathy has grown exponentially over the past two decades and provided us with the confidence to assert that psychopaths are operating successfully in organisations, there is much we still don’t know. Future researchers will need to examine more closely exactly how and why psychopaths come to be successful in organisations and longitudinal research is needed to ascertain the career paths of psychopaths. Such research will shine a light on this very ‘dark side’ of organisations.
